Books filled my childhood as much as toys in the Sixties as I'm sure was the case for many MC readers.
I adored owning books back then and still do.
Two sets of books represent two ends of my childhood really. Book ends no less!
One was a series of glossy paperback non-fiction books by Hamlyn or Collins during the Sixties and early Seventies. Each book covered a different topic. I recall having Guns and Natural History on my shelf as well as my favourite, Black Magic, which I still have. I was crazy about monsters as a kid and this was a natural fit. I found the book very unsettling especially the paintings of modern day witches. I adored it though and still occasionally flick through it because its like an old friend now.
The other set of books are far less pleasant when I look back. They were GCE O Level revision guides for Fifth Years sitting final exams at Secondary School. They covered every exam subject and those for English Lit covered each book being studied.
I remember having guides for Macbeth and David Copperfield. They were yellow and black and may have been called McMillan's Notes. I disliked them a lot and have no fondness for them now. My final secondary school year, 1977, was the year my Mum died suddenly at the age of 55 and the fun of childhood was sadly over forever.
Its odd how inanimate objects like books can stir past memories and take us back to former times. I suppose like our toys and records they represent a certain moment in our lives and depending on how we felt at the time freeze that feeling for always like flies in amber. Its a sobering thought that the books I still have from back then are as old as me now but I am still the same person thumbing through them now as I did when I got first got them. Its just the setting and the people around me that have changed.
Do you have books which are significant to you readers?
